chicken legs

Question

I just came across a Mexican recipe for "pollo pibil." It calls for, among other things, "6 piernas de pollo." I have always thought that "piernas" was for human legs and "patas" was for animal legs, though I have also heard "muslos" used for certain animal legs that one eats. I don't know if "patas" is also used for legs that one eats. Anyway, does it seem odd that "piernas de pollo" was used in the recipe? Is it a regional thing perhaps?

Answer 1

Pierna is used for legs of any creature.

Pata is foot for animals and pie is foot for humans, however, sometimes we use patas when talking about human feet while making a joke, or lesser educated people may use it if they don´t know the difference.

Muslo ..... theigh (anything)

so, piernas de pollo equals chicken legs. curiously though, in SpanDict "muslo" is a thigh or leg of an animal. and "pata" is a foot or leg of an animal. - malbecblend, Apr 5, 2015